What is the point of pushing people out of their comfort zone? Practical software engineering doesn't happen when you're uncomfortable. Discovering quality solutions requires concentration and immersion into problems.
YMMV, but I've always worked in service-oriented development organizations for startups or companies that behaved like startups on the development side. Pressure comes with the territory and I'd rather know how potential colleagues behave with a small amount of interview pressure before being stuck with a veritable basket case in a real-world high-pressure situation.
I had a guy freak out walking through a simple algorithm in java at the white board in an interview. Maybe he was the best developer ever if he were put in a quiet dark room and never made eye contact with anyone. Given that we had other candidates who could actually interact calmly and intelligently in an interview/collaborative situation, we weren't going to go with the guy that freaked out.
I had a guy freak out walking through a simple algorithm in java at the white board in an interview. Maybe he was the best developer ever if he were put in a quiet dark room and never made eye contact with anyone. Given that we had other candidates who could actually interact calmly and intelligently in an interview/collaborative situation, we weren't going to go with the guy that freaked out.